Attitudes and interpersonal skills during pediatric internship.

The initial phases of a program for analyzing interpersonal skills and attitudes and personal adaptation of pediatric interns at a high-pressure tertiary care hospital are described. Interns found internship stressful and less satisfying in many regards than they expected. They were often unable to cope adaptively with the stresses encountered. There were indications of worsening attitudes toward aspects of patient care. However, interns' confidence increased during the year. A videotape vignette test of interpersonal sensitivity showed no change in sensitivity from beginning to end of the year. Videotapes of interns' visits with clinic outpatients made at three points during the year also showed no improvement in interpersonal or communication skills or attention to psychosocial issues. While parents were generally satisfied with the visit, interns lacked skills in some of these areas. None of the data collected, including sex, marital status, and pre-admission rank by the selection committee, predicted end-of-year performance rating by the chief residents. Sex and marital status were also uncorrelated with measured skills and attitudes.